title: Activation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.
abstract: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent cells and exhibit two main characteristics that define stem cells: self-renewal and differentiation. MSCs can migrate to sites of injury, inflammation, and tumor. Moreover, MSCs undergo myofibroblast-like differentiation, including increased production of alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in response to transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), a growth factor commonly secreted by tumor cells to evade immune surveillance. Based on our previous finding, hMSCs become activated and resemble carcinoma-associated myofibroblasts upon prolonged exposure to conditioned medium from MDAMB231 human breast cancer cells. Here, we show that keratinocyte-conditioned medium (KCM) induces differentiation of MSCs to resemble dermal myofibroblast-like cells using immunofluorescence techniques demonstrating punctate vinculin staining, and F-actin filaments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Pravin J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Debabrata
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Banerjee
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000378:metabolism; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D058628:Myofibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D016596:Vinculin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D016596:Vinculin